


Devotion to the Code

by istia



Category: Last Knights (2015)
Genre: Gen, POV Raiden (Last Knights), Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-22 22:47:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23501626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/istia/pseuds/istia
Summary: For Raiden, duty and love are bound together.
Kudos: 1





	Devotion to the Code

His faith in his duty, in his place in the world, is as unwavering at the moment his executioner raises his sword as it was when his own sword had severed his lord's neck. He'd begged Bartok to let him and the clan's soldiers try to fight their way to freedom, begged him to allow Raiden to die striving to defend his master: but, in the end, Raiden had no choice but to submit. To kill the man he wanted to die to protect.

It wasn't the Emperor's demand that forced his hand, but Bartok's order enforcing his duty: _Commander, draw your sword._ Bartok's stark reminder to him that Raiden's devotion to the code has always been, _must always be_ , absolute, gave him no other path. No option other than obedience and adherence to the code.

His master knelt, bowing his head and baring his neck for the mandated sacrifice. Bartok's eyes closed. He was composed; ready. Raiden steadied his shaking hands on his sword's hilt, cleared his vision of the blur of tears, and struck off Bartok's head with the single, strong stroke his master deserved. It was done. The Emperor's will was satisfied. Geza Mott triumphed.

Afterwards, Raiden unmakes the world.

Months later, after executing his meticulously planned campaign, he's won the fight that duty denied him while Bartok lived, but demanded the moment Bartok died. With the dedicated allegiance of Cortez and the Bartok clan's core group of loyal retainers, he's avenged his master's unjust death and restored Bartok's family to freedom and their rightful home.

He's killed Geza Mott, dozens of his soldiers, and, with regret, Ito, Geza Mott's competent and principled commander. Ito, as dedicated to the code as Raiden himself--though cursed with an unworthy master--is as bound either to win or to die as Raiden. One of them has inevitably to fall: either in the duty to kill Geza Mott or in the duty to protect him. Ito is the final obstacle blocking Raiden from Geza Mott. Ito dies.

After which, having completed his duty to his master in reclaiming Bartok's honour, Raiden lays down his sword.

His men are following him still, but no further. Passing command to Cortez, he wields the same harsh reminder Bartok used to compel Raiden's obedience: _Lieutenant, your devotion to the code is absolute, is it not?_ Cortez yields, as he must, as he has no choice but to do despite his heart rebelling. Just as Raiden perforce had.

Bartok knelt for his death in the Emperor's throne room, amidst splendour, heat, greed, jealousy, corruption. A massed congregation of hawkish watchers witnessed his end, with Geza Mott's gloating anticipation tainting the close atmosphere.

Raiden kneels for his death in the snow in the clean, open air before the Emperor in a courtyard entirely empty except for a handcount of soldiers. When the Emperor, wordless, leaves, the black-masked executioner approaches. The only sound in the stillness is the crunch of the man's feet on the snow. The air smells fresh, as if it, too, has been cleansed of a particular evil. Raiden draws in a long breath.

He bows his head and closes his eyes, like his master before him: but opens them for a last look at the world he's reshaped.


End file.
